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Connection issues have been a staple problem in competitive esports titles, and Valorant is no stranger to this fact.
Unstable internet connections and ISP timeouts have often led to players having to quit mid-game, leading to them facing harsh AFK penalties, which Riot even went ahead and strengthened in patch 2.05.
But to be fair, Valorant is a team game that focuses specifically on player communication and a 5 on 5 set-up where every cog plays their part. Moving one piece away from the equation, from either side, makes it quite difficult for the rest of the players on the team to play the game.
So one player’s internet disruption makes four others suffer, and having a strict AFK penalty system becomes a very potent solution.
However, Valorant devs are looking to go a step further and try helping out both parties by developing a way to restrict layers with connection issues to queue up for matchmaking.
Player restrictions for Valorant's Competitive queue might be on the way
In a recent Reddit post, the Valorant player who goes by the handle of Vengtan opened up a discussion on why players with poor internet connectivity should not queue up for Valorant’s competitive matchmaking.
The Redditor wrote,
“In the last game, I had a teammate with ping 200 who was frequently AFKing (probably connection issues), and who didn't follow the rest of the team and barely got any kills. While it's obvious that nobody can predict how their internet connection is going to be, I think that adding a neat feature for people with high latency would be very useful for the whole team.”
Fortunately, Valorant developer Aeneia replied in the thread and confirmed that Riot is planning to bring something like this. She states that players AFKing in the game due to internet problems have become a very common issue in Valorant.
Taking into consideration the poor connectivity and power supply that third-world countries face, constantly disconnecting from the middle of a game is all too real a scenario. Heavily punishing them for something that is not their fault is not something that Riot wants to do.
Hence, having matchmaking restrictions for those with bad internet stability will in the long run help Valorant have a healthier competitive environment.
In the Reddit thread, Aeneia wrote,
“I love seeing this! This is something we've actually discussed as a team. I can't speak to any plans to build it or not, but I just wanted to validate your thoughts here: it's a freaking great idea”
“EDIT: To follow up on others' comments, it's true that many folks end up getting connection issues in the middle of games. That's why our new warnings and penalty system tells players, "Hey, you disconnected a lot last game. Fix yo stuff before jumping in again." (Those exact words, I swear)”
Riot might just be able to bring in matchmaking restrictions in future updates to help out those who suffer from poor internet stability.
